Witches and Alchemists
by Eilwynn
Summary: Baby Rosé is adopted by the Rockbells. As a child, she learns a little known piece of information she shares with her twin Winry. In our world, alchemists and witches existed alongside one another. What if it were the same in Amestris? Winry and Rosé apply to a secret sect of witches and six years later the Elrics get a different fate and company on their journey. EdxWinry, AlxRosé
1. Chapter 1

**Witches and Alchemists**

Chapter One

Sarah Rockbell was pulled often to the orphanage in Reole during her time there as a missionary of sorts - albeit an unorthodox, nonreligious one.

The orphanage matron was a round old woman with leathery brown skin and an apron, her hair pulled back in a bun and always smelling strongly of soap. She squinted; she could not see well but couldn't afford glasses. She led Sarah around on the first day. The orphanage had used to be a pigsty, but was cleaned and built up into a tiny building. Mattresses lined the walls and children ran around screeching and barefoot inside the single room in its center. Through the open doorways beyond them on either end of the room, desert wind blew by and the tiny, sleepy, poverty-stricken town of Reole seemed to be in a constant state of numb, shuffling sleeplessness.

The people there looked… defeated. Sarah hated to see it.

"It's really amazing, what you're doing here," said the orphanage matron as she led a concerned Sarah through the squabbles of kids. "You and your husband, two accomplished doctors and surgeons, going around the country doing charity work. But with the state you're in…" The matron eyed with uncertainty Sarah's swelling, pregnant belly. "Are you… sure living in a place as hot as this is for the best right now?"

Sarah smiled. "Rockbell women are strong," she said cheerfully. "I married into the family, but it's still true even for me. We have to be."

"Ah, so you're having a girl?" said the matron curiously.

"Oh, I've got a good feeling." Sarah winked. "We're going to name her Winry!"

"Winry and Sarah…" the matron mused fondly.

"And Pinako. That's their grandmother. She runs an automail shop back at home."

"Ah, a female mechanic installing synthetic limbs. Very interesting. And where is home?"

"Resembool. It's a small town - a tiny green countryside sort of place. Farm country."

"A far cry from here. So that's where you get your skin," said the matron curiously. "Everyone in Reole has a coffee sort of skin color, but yours is just like cream. Very pretty."

"Oh - thank you." Sarah laughed sheepishly, slightly uneasy. "I think both are beautiful."

She looked up, and paused, growing somber. They had reached close to the other side of the room, and by the doorway was a little wooden cradle. It held a baby inside. Sarah slowly walked over, looking sadly down into the little face.

"That's Rosé Thomas," said the matron, shuffling over with her usual hunched shoulders to stand beside Sarah. "A newborn - she'll be your daughter's age. Her parents are desert people, from here. The Thomas father died during pregnancy; the Thomas mother lived just long enough to name her daughter Rosé, after the wine. Then she died. Her opening was too small -"

"And there was no one to perform a caesarean, so a tear in perineum became infected," Sarah guessed sadly.

"Well, I don't know anything about that, but I suppose so," the matron drawled slowly. "She was born looking like that, so you can see why the name was chosen. Rosé is our youngest."

Rosé had the same coffee skin tone as every native of Reole. She had a full head of shiny dark hair, but deep pinkish-purple bangs, the color of the wine. When she blinked open sleepy eyes, they were a brilliant shade of violet.

Sarah's eyes met that gaze and she instantly fell in love, looking down at Rosé sympathetically and tenderly.

"Yes," she whispered. "It's a very pretty name. It makes sense. And the poor girl… poor and an orphan from birth."

"Every child here is a tragedy," said the matron, her sagging face peering around the orphanage with bleary eyes, and Sarah was unsure anymore if she was talking about the orphanage or Reole. "She's just another one."

Sarah thought about that a lot after leaving.

Every day, after her shifts in the hot white tent the Rockbell doctors had set up in market center, Sarah went to visit Rosé in her cradle. She talked to her, played with her, nudged her little hands and waved toys above her laughing.

At some point Sarah realized what she had already decided.

In the quiet white tent on their pallet cots that evening, the stars so clear above them in the center town square through the clear dusty sheets in the white top, Sarah sat on her own pallet across from her husband and told him what she had been doing all those afternoons.

"I thought it was something like that." Yuriy sighed and ran a hand over his face, looking tired. "You want to adopt her."

"Yuriy, we could take her back with us. Winry could have a twin," said Sarah earnestly, leaning forward. "We can afford one other child, and she'll be better off with our family, in Resembool. Think about it."

"She will," Yuriy agreed skeptically. "And I want to help. But Sarah… we're going to meet lots of children in terrible circumstances during our travels, and… I hate to put it like this but we can't adopt all of them."

"... It's special with this one," said Sarah in a hushed, quiet voice, looking somberly downward. "I promise."

"Well… just as long as that's true… it's alright. We'll do it," said Yuriy, nodding.

Sarah squealed and threw her arms around him; he smiled reflexively despite himself as he hugged her.

And so they signed the adoption paperwork and the name change paperwork. The wording stamped across the top of the document read:

 _New Name: Rosé Rockbell_

 _Birthplace: Reole, Amestris_

Standing in the little town courthouse, Yuriy and the pregnant Sarah both smiled and signed, one after the other. The judge, a sleepy old man with a white receding hairline in black robes, smiled and slid a copy of the birth certificate across to them while taking one for himself and his Reole town records.

"Well, Rosé," said Sarah, beaming and smiling down at the baby girl in her arms, "you'll have to get ready to meet your sister! Yeah, that's right!" She smiled in delight, bouncing Rosé up and down in her arms as her new baby girl giggled. "And I've already said Rockbell women have to be strong. Strong, and compassionate.

"So the same thing will just have to be true to you."

Little did they know then, Rosé would not be the only Rockbell girl whose birth certificate said she was registered and born in Reole…

They had planned the mission so that they would be back home in Resembool in time for the birth. Winry decided she was unwilling to wait, and came in the little desert town of Reole on their medical charity mission instead.

* * *

Yuriy birthed his own daughter. He had a screaming Sarah lie down in a hospital bed inside the tent, gave her as much pain relief as he could, and delivered his own child.

He had to hand it to the people of Reole - they all came out and stood around inside the tent for the birth of the doctors who had sacrificed so much for them. One mother, a big woman with three children clinging to her skirts herself, expertly bounced Rosé up and down in her arms off to the side. She looked remarkably matter of fact about the whole thing, much more so than an amazed and frantic Yuriy was.

Sarah screamed. "Almost there!" Yuriy called to her from the bottom of the bed. "Almost there! And… she's out! It's a she," he breathed in realization, staring down at his wailing little newborn baby girl. An awed smile came over his face. "It's a she! She's out!" he suddenly cheered, raising his hands high.

Sarah laughed, sweaty and exhausted but exultant, as all the Reolians in the tent cheered.

The eager judge off to the side immediately began scribbling down paperwork.

 _Name: Winry Rockbell_

 _Birthplace: Reole, Amestris_

A little while later, Sarah had one girl in each arm, sitting upright peacefully in the tent's hospital bed. Yuriy stood behind her, smiling softly down at the babies. Beyond them, tables had been set up stocked with wine in the town square and a raucous party had started.

"The whole village is celebrating," said Yuriy, smiling. "Just think. A feast just for them."

Sarah chuckled. "Look at these two. They're so beautiful…" she smiled. Winry had her mother Sarah's creamy skin tone, a headful of blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. "Winry. Winry, this is your sister Rosé. Rosé, this is Winry. You two are twins. Yeah, that's right. Born only a few months apart."

"An orphan taken from desert poverty and the daughter of doctors and surgeons born on a medical charity mission. What do you think?"

"I think it sounds perfect," said Sarah firmly.

"... Yeah," Yuriy realized, a funny little smile on his face. "Yeah, I do too."

"You'd better telegraph Pinako and tell her we're coming home to the automail shop," said Sarah firmly. "Back to Resembool to be local doctors. For a while, at least, the missions are over."

* * *

Sarah stepped off the train, the two baby girls in slings across her shoulders, and walked quietly out of the little station. She stopped just outside - and breathed in the fresh air of Resembool.

Long, rolling, brilliantly green hills and swathes of farmland spread out below and around them from the tiny train station. Little houses dotted here and there, with a tiny town in the center. The place was bathed in sunlight.

The sun smiled on Resembool.

Yuriy walked out beside Sarah, put an arm around her shoulders smiling, and breathed in deep. "I missed this place," he admitted quietly. "It's nice here."

Sarah and Yuriy Rockbell smiled at each other.

They took a long, strolling walk through the little dirt pathways and streets, across the hills and the soft breeze and the clean air, past the Elric home… and to the little home with the Rockbell Automail Shop sign in front. Pinako walked out to greet them, down the steps and into the grass before the house, a tiny but fierce woman with glasses and a stern bun of iron-grey hair. She was smiling unusually softly.

"There you two are," she said. "Having a child and adopting another all the way out there! It's idealistic, good-hearted, reckless, and silly - in other words, all the things you two are."

"Good to see you, too, Mom," said Yuriy wryly, and Sarah chuckled.

"... Well! Let me see them!" Pinako demanded suddenly, as if this were extremely obvious and they were being rather dense. Sarah laughed and handed the two girls over awkwardly. Pinako immediately tucked each girl firmly but gently into her grasp, a veritable expert. "... Yes," she said gently, sounding unusually gruff, her eyes a bit damp. "Yes, they're both beautiful little girls. And so different looking, too, it will be easy to tell them apart."

Then she turned around and walked right back toward the house still holding them.

"Hey! Where are you going with my daughters?" Yuriy asked indignantly, his hands spread wide.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm taking my two granddaughters inside," said Pinako with the utmost dignity. "I have no idea what you people are doing," she added scathingly.

"Get back here with my children!" Yuriy suddenly charged toward Pinako.

"No!" she barked, and sprinted toward the house with the two girls still in her grasp.

Sarah just stood there and laughed. She'd been worried about reception to the two girls. She shouldn't have. Rockbells were… naturally protective, she thought wryly.

She smiled, shook her head, and followed shouting, crashing mother and son back inside the home.

They walked through the shop full of medical chairs and mechanical parts, to the back of the house where the home was. It was a rustic sort of place with embroidered white and yellow cushions. Checkered blue and white curtains framed a kitchen window looking out to vast greenery beyond.

It was so peaceful. So quiet.

They all sat down in the kitchen with cups of tea and told Pinako the twin stories of the adoption and the birth. She listened and nodded along patiently. "Well, it will certainly be an interesting story to be able to tell them when they're older," she admitted. "It is obvious you two love these girls very much."

"They're wonderful," said Sarah warmly, looking fondly over at her two children, who had been tucked into a tiny cradle Pinako had bought and set up. It was even mechanized so that everyone could wheel the children after them in the cradle about the house. The cradle was currently beside them in the little tiled kitchen.

"You should know," said Pinako next, "our neighbors, the Elrics - they had a boy while you were gone. Same year as these two. And they're pregnant with another. Trisha insists she has a good feeling about it also being a boy. Van Hohenheim insists that's a load of nonsense."

"Van Hohenheim is a load of nonsense," said Sarah fiercely.

"Here, here," Pinako added, raising her glass.

"Let's not get into village politics and beautiful young local Trisha Elric's horrible taste in mysterious alchemist men," said Yuriy uneasily. "Let's just - try to be happy for them. Two sons. It's good."

"Oh, so you believe in that motherly instinct now?" said Sarah playfully.

"Well, you turned out right," said Yuriy fondly.

Sarah laughed. "It's true, I did," she admitted. "But… really? Two children back to back? Only one year apart?" she said worriedly. "That's… a little dangerous."

"That's what I said to the Elrics," Pinako sighed. "But they're young, reckless, impulsive, and in love. Good names for the boys, though - Edward and Alphonse. Edward is the elder, the one already born. For some inane reason, Trisha has taken to calling them Ed and Al."

Sarah laughed at Pinako's exasperation.

"Well, it's not the end of the world, Pinako," she said in amusement. "They could be calling them Hubert and Humphrey."

"Don't give them any ideas," said Pinako flatly, and Sarah laughed louder. Yuriy looked down, obviously trying to bite back a smile.

"I did miss these village gossip talks," he said wryly.

"Just imagine, you'll be surrounded by all girls now," said Sarah slyly. "Four of them."

"He can handle it," said Pinako firmly, standing and heading out to the automail shop. "My son is tough."

"For once, she's right," said Yuriy wryly, looking fond and unfazed.

"For once?!" Pinako suddenly shrieked from the front of the house. "Is that what I just heard?!"

Sarah looked down, hand over her mouth and shoulders shaking with silent laughter, as Yuriy called in blind panic, "No, mother!"

Beside each other in the cradle, Rosé and Winry cooed and waved their arms and legs about, happy with the beautiful clean countryside air, happy with all the warm, cheerful energy in the house around them.

* * *

Author's Notes: So this fic will be more of a slow burn.

I will take my time and really try to tell this story well. There will be lots of childhood and witch training chapters before we really get into the start of canon - but it will all be relevant and hopefully very interesting! My imagination went crazy with this one. I am going to make this first section of the story its own plot. Lots of childhood antics between the four main children will frequently ensue.

So just sit back and enjoy.

(Oh, and this fic will be mangaverse simply and solely because I refuse to battle in my head over Brotherhood vs 03.)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Winry and Rosé both grew over the next three years into thriving toddler girls.

They had their first years in a warm, loving, and full home. Between their parents' home visit doctor practice and their grandmother's at-home automail shop, they learned a lot about healing very early on - both the medical side and the mechanical side. They took an early interest in playing around with Pinako's safer little wrenches and tools and in "helping" their parents go around Resembool and do check-ups on patients.

Nervous patients were always delighted to see adorable little animated girls, so this was put up with. Rosé and Winry learned from all three adults not only an animation in healing and helping others, but a calm and matter of fact bedside manner. While their parents might be thought of more "qualitative" teachers, stern and mechanical Pinako was definitely more "quantitative."

Despite being the younger one, Winry became the "leader" sister. She had a mischievous sense of humor and a fiery spirit, she charged forward authoritatively, she made plans and decisions, and she could be quite vindictive.

Despite this, Rosé, the quieter one, was actually the one you had to watch out for. Soft-spoken and shy though she was, she was the one with the mightier and more frightening temper. Winry could be surprisingly quiet and neutral when the mood took her.

Winry was more serious and humorous; Rosé was warmer and more cheerful. They suited each other.

Both little girls grew up in a thriving home in beautiful rural Resembool, with pretty little dresses and neat, short hair. They only looked alike in one way - both were rather small, slim, and pixie-like.

Then the announcement came: Amestris had started a war with the neighboring country of Ishval. Doctors were needed.

Winry and Rosé would always remember peeking tentatively around the kitchen doorway unseen the dark rural night the decision was made. Their parents sat at the kitchen table with cups of tea, Pinako looking worried across from them.

"Can you look after them?" Yuriy asked seriously. "My girls?"

"Of course; I can't believe you even have to ask," said Granny Pinako scathingly. "But… must you really…?"

"They need doctors," said Sarah with deadly seriousness. "We have to go. The war needs us."

"Here's my question," said Pinako, sitting back skeptically. "Will you really be able to only help the Amestrian soldiers? Will you be able to turn away the Ishvalan soldiers if you need to?"

"... No," said Yuriy, looking down.

Pinako waited. Her eyes widened in realization as nothing changed and neither parent looked surprised.

"You're not going there to help the country," she realized. "You're just going there to help people… That's going to get you killed, you know," she added seriously.

"... Hopefully not," said Yuriy softly. "But some things are worth dying for."

"Yuriy, be serious, you have two young daughters and you have a mother and she's aging!" Pinako shouted suddenly. She sounded hoarse, old, and… frightened. For the first time, frightened.

Then she looked beyond the couple and saw the two terrified girls.

"Hold on," she said to the couple, and led the girls quietly back to their room. Then Pinako knelt down to look them in the eye. "From now on, your mother and father will be gone several months of every year. To the war front.

"I just need you to do one thing for them. For this family."

"What is it?" Rosé asked softly, looking upward with big eyes. Winry was silent, frightened.

"Don't tell anyone about what you just heard. Don't tell anyone even the story of how you were born. Best to keep everything… under wraps, concerning your parents and what they're doing. We don't need anyone suspecting your parents of anything, okay?"

"Because our birth story would already make them look helpful," Winry realized. "But… why is it illegal to save somebody's life?" She frowned, puzzled.

Pinako sighed. "I don't know," she said tiredly. "Never stop asking that question. And go to sleep."

She stood and left their shared bedroom, turning the light off.

Winry and Rosé were both crying the next day as their parents left with suitcases. "Oh, come on, we'll be back in a few months. What's all this?" said Sarah, kneeling down to them and smiling uneasily in front of the house. "You're both big, brave girls, right?"

"We'll be okay," said Yuriy seriously, hugging each of them. They breathed in the warm scent from his shirt. "And no matter what, I want you both to remember: never stop helping people, and we love you very much."

Rosé and Winry wanted to watch until their parents' backs were out of sight, but their visions kept blurring with tears. Finally, Pinako sadly took them both by the shoulder and led them back inside.

They didn't miss the one last worried glance she threw backward toward what remained to be seen of her son.

* * *

Trisha Elric and Pinako Rockbell sat inside the Rockbell home, tentatively letting the four children play in the other room: Winry, Rosé, Ed, and Al.

"It's just hard," said Trisha, obviously trying to put up a brave face. "He just… He got up one day and he left." She shrugged, trying to smile. "And now they don't have a father."

Her voice broke a little on the last sentence.

Pinako put a hand over her arm. "They'll be fine. You've got two strong boys out there," she said in concern. "What was Van Hohenheim ever any use for, anyway? All he knew was alchemy!"

"Oh - I'm sure you're right," said Trisha, smiling tearfully. "I just -" She looked back toward the other room. "I hope they get along," she whispered, leaning forward.

"It's true… both sets of siblings just lost a parent figure in some way. They're around the same age," said Pinako, shrugging hopefully. "Maybe they'll -"

And then there were sudden screeches and crashes from the living room. Pinako and Trisha both shouted out and ran to the doorway in alarm.

It… wasn't exactly an ideal situation at first glance. Ed was chasing around Winry, shouting. Finally, Winry threw something, distracted Ed, and threw herself at him, riding around on his back and grabbing fistfuls of hair as he ran around and shrieked.

Al had obviously try to show Rosé what looked like an insect trapped in tree sap. She had run away from it crying. He ran after her, obviously determined earnestly to show her its merits.

Both the boys had blond hair, but Al's was a soft straw color and Ed's was a deep gold. Ed had golden eyes like a cat's; Al had gentle hazel-grey. Ed's features were sharp; Al had a soft, heart-shaped face.

It was obvious still - they were brothers.

Trisha went to run forward in alarm at the disaster, but the more experienced Pinako raised an arm and squinted closer. "Wait a minute…" she whispered.

And then Ed at last tricked Winry by falling over and they both lay on the floor, shoving each other and laughing despite themselves. Rosé saw Al curl up in tears… so she inched her way back over and sat down next to him. He looked up, smiled, and showed her the bug. She looked it over nervously, obviously trying to make him happier. On the other side of the room, Winry had grabbed Ed's stuffed toy and held it smugly over his head. He was leaping for it, but strangely? He seemed to be having the time of his life.

"Oh, yes," said Pinako, breaking into a smile. "They'll do just fine. Natural troublemakers. Come on. Let's go finish our tea."

Trisha relaxed in relief and smiled, following Pinako back into the kitchen.

* * *

For several years, Sarah and Yuriy just kept coming back, miraculously undetected, for a certain portion of every year. No one in Resembool ever suspected what they were doing.

Van Hohenheim, on the other hand, never came back.

But the friendship between the two sets of siblings remained.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Winry and Rosé were five, walking worried with Pinako up to the gravesite, wearing black. Resembool had a little local graveyard, and they were headed amidst many other locals for a funeral.

"What will happen to Ed and Al?" Rosé asked softly and worriedly. There was warmth in her concern. "Now that their Mom has died and their Dad's gone?"

"If our Mom and Dad were here, they would have been able to cure Trisha Elric," Winry muttered, scowling and still sore about this. "Stupid plague."

Pinako wasn't sure if this was true, but she didn't have the heart to dissuade five year old Winry.

"Well," she sighed to Rosé, "they want to be able to stay in their own house. But all of their getting to school, their food and such… That should fall to us. We were closest; they were our neighbors and friends."

Rosé brightened. "So we'll be able to help them!" She ran up beside Winry. "We should try to make them feel better," she decided positively. "You take Ed."

Winry looked over - and smiled despite herself. "Sounds good," she admitted. "Won't Mom and Dad be proud of us when they get back again?"

Pinako watched her granddaughters walk in front of her and gave a small, proud, trembling smile.

They entered the graveyard. Ed and Al wore black, in front of the gravestone, surrounded by others. Al was curled up crying. Ed stood with his fists clenched and his jawline tight with some irrational fury.

Rosé went tentatively to sit down beside Al and give him a hug. He looked up, sniffling - leaned into her and wept. She hugged him sadly.

"Granny Pinako says we'll help you with everything," she murmured, "school and eating and stuff. It's not so impossible."

Al sniffled. "Th… thanks, Rosé," he murmured.

Winry walked up beside Ed. She grabbed his hand. He glared sideways at her - then relaxed and looked away, relaxing his fist and grabbing her hand back, squeezing it tightly.

That was when she realized how terrified and upset he was. His hand was trembling.

Granny Pinako stood behind the four. And they just stayed like that, unmoving, throughout all of Trisha Elric's funeral.

They stayed longer than anyone else, in fact. When everyone else was gone, there they stayed.

"... She apologized to Dad as she lay dying," Ed hissed out, positively spat, "for dying without him." He still glared straight ahead.

No one knew what to say.

"I… I wish we could have been for her… what he was," Al sniffled sadly.

Ed stayed silent.

"Well, come on," said Granny Pinako, recovering herself at last, "the boys as well. You need dinner, a hot meal. Our house."

"I'm not hungry -" Ed began.

"Well too bad," Granny Pinako commanded. "You're eating anyway." And she stalked off.

Usually Ed would have argued. But today he didn't. He walked silently, looking suddenly old and hard, after Pinako, still clutching Winry's hand.

Frowning sadly, Winry held onto that hand and followed.

Rosé and Al came last, Rosé's arm comfortingly around Al's shoulders. "It's nice," he admitted with a trembling, broken sort of smile. "To feel like we have someone… like a family." Tears welled up in his eyes again.

Al, by contrast, looked very young.

* * *

The Elrics did sleep at their old house, beginning to intensively study their father's old alchemy books there in his study. But they spent most of the rest of their time with the Rockbells.

The four children walked to school together, Al warmly trying to open up Rosé with goofy faces and make her giggle and shove him, Ed leaving frogs in Winry's shoes and Winry getting him back in increasingly creative ways. Ed argued with Pinako over dinner, and Al hummed pleasantly and enjoyed his food, and the two girls felt cheerful and warm and at home with family.

A new member of the Rockbell family was included. Winry and Rosé found a three-legged, limping stray of a puppy while playing out by a pond one afternoon. In tears, they immediately ran back to the house with him.

"Can we keep him?!" they begged, looking up tearfully.

"Oh… I suppose we did teach you to want to help people. And he needs a new leg. How can I say no?" Pinako sighed helplessly.

Winry and Rosé brightened.

So they fit the black and white puppy with a new automail leg, Pinako calmly talking the frantic girls through it over the dog's whining. But once he learned with it, he was good as new, and the girls were thrilled.

"You guys are such soft-hearts," Ed sighed with an exasperated smile, watching the girls with their new dog.

"Hey! Don't pick on Den!" Winry demanded.

"I wasn't!" Ed snapped back.

"I think it's nice," Al admitted, smiling admiringly at Rosé as she played with Den.

"... Yeah," said Ed softly, smiling more gently, watching the two girls play with their rescued puppy. "Yeah, it is."

At times when Sarah and Yuriy were also home, it became even better - though certain topics about the war front were suddenly never discussed in front of the Elric brothers. So Winry and Rosé stopped knowing things.

Winry and Rosé began to lose track of their parents, who always left with the same words: "No matter what, I want you both to remember: never stop helping people, and we love you very much."

"... I feel like we're losing everyone," Winry admitted dully, as she and Rosé lay quietly out in an Amestrian field one afternoon. "Even Ed and Al… I mean, they're so caught up in alchemy now, ever since Trisha died. They spend school with us, and dinners with us. Nothing else. I feel like…"

"We're being left behind. By everyone except for Granny Pinako and Den," Rosé sighed. "Yeah. I feel like that, too. But I don't want to complain..."

"Because everyone else has enough to be going on with," her sister finished. Winry looked up at the sky and murmured, "Yeah. They all have their secrets and are so caught up in their own things and we have to be okay with it… Be everybody's friend, or daughter… But… When we will get our moment…? Just becoming an automail mechanic doesn't seem like..."

"Enough," Rosé finished. And she began singing softly, an old song Pinako had taken to singing since her son had left:

 _"I gave all my oxygen to people that could breathe_

 _I gave away my money and now we don't even speak_

 _I drove miles and miles, but would you do the same for me?_

 _Oh, honestly?_

 _Offered off my shoulder just for you to cry upon_

 _Gave you constant shelter and a bed to keep you warm_

 _They gave me the heartache and in return I gave a song_

 _It goes on and on_

 _Life can get you down so I just numb the way it feels_

 _I drown it with a drink and out-of-date prescription pills_

 _And all the ones that love me they just left me on the shelf_

 _No farewell_

 _So before I save someone else, I've got to save myself..."_

"I don't want to be that person waiting all their life," Winry whispered.

"I don't either," said Rosé. "I want to save myself... But how do we do that?"

* * *

Author's Note: The song is "Save Myself" by Ed Sheeran and that song started begging so hard to be sung as I wrote this scene, playing over and over in my head.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Rosé had bickered with Winry at home over something stupid one weekend and run into town. They were six.

"Fine!" she shouted. "Take my dolls! See if I care!"

"FINE!" Winry shouted back.

And Rosé had sprinted in tears down the hills, down the roads, and into the Resembool village, feeling childishly that life was completely unfair… She was passing by a café and heard the murmured words, "So you're looking for new children?"

Rosé ducked behind a wall of the café and listened closely, suddenly serious.

"Yes," said an elegant woman in a black cloak with a bun of dark hair and vivid green eyes, sitting across from a serious old man who in daytime was a baker. "Every six months, we come out and look for new witches, especially in the children. We recruit them and take them back with us, give them a great purpose, train them in power - and in ethics, kindness, something that our twin alchemy woefully overlooks," she added scathingly, in a tone that said just exactly what a supposed witch thought of alchemists.

"Well, I'm your usual contact…" said the baker slowly, "but I'm not sure who -"

"Wait a minute." The woman raised a hand. She looked directly at the wall corner that a terrified Rosé, her heart pounding, had quickly ducked behind. "Come out, please," the witch called, no-nonsense.

"What?! Someone's been spying -?!" the massive baker shouted in a pique of rage, shooting to his feet -

But the witch raised a hand almost lazily. "Relax," she said, rolling her eyes. "Girl. Come out. You're not in trouble."

Rosé shuffled out in front of the witch, head ducked and hands folded before herself, terrified of some mysterious, unfathomable punishment.

"Now. You're curious, aren't you?" said the witch, looking Rosé over with sharp, bright interest. "You want to know. Why?"

"Because… my twin and I feel like… we're being left behind by everyone. Like we don't have our moment," Rosé muttered sullenly. "And we want our moment."

"Ah, I see," said the witch, nodding thoughtfully. "Everyone around you has found a path and a road to great adventures and purpose. You want to find yours."

"... Yeah," said Rosé, and then she looked up surprisingly sharply. "But who are you people? Why should we go to you?"

The woman threw back her head and laughed, warmly actually. "Well, if your twin has as much spirit as you, I like you two already," she said in amusement. "All right. Let me tell you what the rumors say… about witches.

"You see, there are two kinds of people with power in this world, anyone with extreme knowledge can tell you. Witches and alchemists. You know about alchemists, but no one ever talks about witches. Why?

"Because we are a somewhat secret sect. We have different abilities, but we keep to ourselves in secret. No one knows hardly anything about us. Only certain people, male or female, have the ability to become a witch. It doesn't happen in everyone, this… power, it's choosy. But… those chosen people are truly blessed, even if they never access their abilities. They are even said," her eyes sparkled mischievously, "to bestow special alchemical blessings on the ones they are closest to.

"We fully initiated, trained witches come around testing for ability in youngsters and recruiting only twice a year. We all live the rest of the time in a little no man's land, a walled in city surrounded by the desert between Xing and Amestris. That is where young witches would train - we require six months per year of training in young children, their other six months free to exist back at home, making the journey back with us during recruitment time. This continues for six years, until the end of training and the initiation.

"We are a tiny nation-state all to ourselves, this walled in city. But we allow plenty of new trainees from other places. Those trainees usually go on to live in our city. Hence our obscurity, whereas alchemists spread themselves far and wide. Our walls protect us through magic from all possible foreign invaders or repercussions, alchemical or otherwise. Society could crumble, but there we would stand, long after everyone else was gone.

"Now, the city is called Orilon, and because of magickal influence it is not a desert place inside. I cannot tell you much about it unless you are accepted. The only non-magicks allowed in are witch family members. But once there, though you would be trained by many you would have a single mentor, so that each head adult witch has several students at any given time. You and your sister could have the same mentor, if you'd like, assuming you are accepted."

"... We… come from doctors and automail mechanics…" Rosé began uneasily.

"Ah. Yes, of course," said the woman, all business. "Both techno magick and healing are not only allowed, but encouraged. And of course, your other six months could still be spent learning here back at home."

"And… kindness is important to you?"

"There is a whole class in Ethics, a complete requirement. We teach you not only how to use your power, but why."

"I… I would like to apply," said Rosé, determined, "but I would also like to ask my fraternal twin sister first. How do we apply?"

"It is not difficult. You are simply tested to see whether or not you have the magickal gift," said the woman, standing swiftly and suddenly reserved. "If you are also willing, and have no previous alchemical training, then you are accepted. I am staying at the inn on Friar's Road. If you and your sister wish to be tested, meet me there at three in the afternoon tomorrow. I will meet you in the food and pub section downstairs. Come alone.

"My name is Andala," she added, "and we have recruiters and trainees from all over the world, but I was sent here because like you, I am originally Amestrian." And she walked gracefully off, the baker who usually seemed so nice giving Rosé a piercing sort of look from the cafe table.

Rosé backed up - and ran, sprinted back home, hurried, her previous upset forgotten.

* * *

Winry was waiting for Rosé anxiously in the usual field they met at. "I'm sorry!" she wailed, immediately throwing her arms around her sister.

"I am, too," said Rosé quickly, somewhat to Winry's surprise. "But sit down. Listen to what happened to me today."

She told Winry all the information, the whole story, Winry listening closely and asking insistent questions.

"We should ask Mom and Dad and Granny back at the house if what she says is true," said Winry at last, thinking hard. "The rumors about witches and their true power. But if it is…" She looked up, a cautious hope glittering in her blue eyes. "This could be our shot," she whispered.

She smiled in excitement, and Rosé laughed in delight.

* * *

They went back to the house, determined, and paused in surprise. Ed and Al were there alongside Sarah, Yuriy, and Pinako.

"Gotten over your fight?" Al asked in amusement, his eyes shining, and then he frowned.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked immediately in a sharp voice at their wind-shaken, determined expressions, fists clenched standing in the doorway.

"Winry… Rosé…" said Sarah curiously, Yuriy watching cautiously beside her. "What on earth is the matter? You can't tell me a fight over a silly doll meant so much to you…" she added warmly, her eyes concerned.

"Rosé… learned something from someone in town today," Winry admitted, head ducked and eyes watching everyone cautiously. "Rosé, tell 'em," she said firmly.

Rosé took a deep, determined breath - and told the whole story, front to back. Everything… excepting for the motivation about why they wanted to become witches.

That was their little sister secret.

The adults sat back in shock, Ed's and Al's eyes wide. "Well, it's true," Yuriy admitted, letting out a breath. "There are witches, and they carry great power."

"Come on! Witches?" said Ed scathingly, his arms crossed, suddenly annoyed.

"Well, that's what they call themselves," said Yuriy. "And it's true, on the surface they do look it. But they have a power all their own. If alchemists are ruled by one entity, witches are ruled by an entirely different one. And the part about alchemical blessings… that stands true to what I've heard as well."

"So… you want to become one? And leave?" Al asked in a scared voice, his eyes big.

The sisters shared a glance and winced. "We know… you may not like it," Winry admitted. "But yes." Her eyes were hard. "We want to be tested to see if we have magick."

"Why?!" Ed demanded.

"Because we want our own lives!" Winry shouted, eyes flashing, and for a moment she was emotional, entirely different from her own fieriness. "Is that okay with everybody?! If we have our own lives, since everyone else has one?!"

Rosé looked down sadly, tacitly admitting she felt the same.

There was a shocked, ringing silence.

Pinako recovered first and sat down. "I think it's a good idea," she announced.

"Who asked you, you old bat?" Ed snapped, his golden eyes practically spitting sparks of fury.

"No! I am not getting into this argument with you, Ed!" Pinako barked in a hard voice. Ed's eyes widened. "You've been taking these girls for granted for a long time and now you're upset because they're not doing what you planned!"

Al wasn't the only who flinched back as if struck, his eyes full of stunned emotion. Ed did as well.

"Come on. We'd still be your friends. We'd be home six months of the year," Rosé pleaded softly.

"Yeah. Of course," said Winry, annoyed, as if this should be obvious. "It's not like we're running away from home. The other six months, we're here at the automail shop with Granny Pinako - who can still give you everything you need. Just like always."

"Fine," said Ed, storming to the door. "If you want to leave, leave."

"Fine! I will, Edward Elric!" Ed looked over and paused completely. Winry was so angry there were tears in her eyes. "Because I'm tired of being your doormat and if you can't handle that, I'm sick of you!" And she stormed to her room.

"Guys. You don't have to do this," said Al frantically, looking at Rosé, who looked down guiltily. "Please - we'll play more, we'll -!"

"I have to do this," Rosé whispered. "Even if it hurts other people." Her face was dark, firm, as she stared at the ground.

Al looked away and scowled, arms crossed defensively in front of himself, tears in his eyes. "... Fine," he muttered.

Rosé left the room as well, heading after Winry.

"Boys," Yuriy sighed, "their minds are already made up. You never wondered what it was like for them? To watch us go off to war, and Pinako have her shop, and you two have your alchemy… and they have nothing?"

"They don't have nothing!" Ed snapped. "That's stupid!"

"Then tell me," said Yuriy calmly, "what part of what I said is inaccurate?"

Ed and Al paused, their eyes widening.

"They'll still be here half of every year. Unless you blow this, they'll still be your friends," said Yuriy. "I think it's a pretty good deal, and you should be happy for them."

"We all should," Sarah admitted sorrowfully, looking downward.

"I think you're afraid of losing them because you took them for granted, that they'd always be there when you needed them," said Yuriy. "But boys… they're not just some toy to be protected that you can place up on a shelf when you're not using it."

Ed looked down, glaring, fists clenched… but this time it seemed he was beating himself up inwardly. His jaw was clenched, like it always was when he tried to hide the fact that he was upset.

Al's eyes were wide, pained, in realization. Then he suddenly turned to Ed fiercely. "I'm going to go talk to them and you should too!" he said firmly, and he rushed out of the room.

Ed's eyes widened - and he ran after Al, following.

* * *

Rosé and Winry sat on their twin beds across from each other, hands wrapped around their knees that had been curled up toward their chins.

"Boys are stupid," Winry muttered.

"Yeah," Rosé swore. "I'm never falling in love. Sounds like too much work." She was frank, exasperated.

Then Ed and Al burst into the room. Ed stood in front of them, eyes wide and frantic, as the girls stared at him in surprise.

"It's fine if you want to go be witches and stare at the moon and whatever! Because I've been a moron! But you'd better still be friends with us when you get back!"

Winry giggled and smiled at last through her tears. It was a very… Ed apology.

"We're sorry. Please don't stop talking to us," said Al tearfully, running up and hugging a surprised Rosé.

And that was a very… Al apology.

Rosé smiled and hugged Al back. "Guess what?" she said mischievously, and the boys looked up. "Witches and alchemists are rivals. Each just as powerful as the other. What do you think? Our magick versus your alchemy?"

Her eyes sparkled warmly. Al slowly beamed.

"Tch. Not even a contest," said Ed scathingly, but his face and voice were warm with smiling relief. "Of course alchemy is better."

"I'll make you eat those words, Edward Elric!" Winry swore, straightening, a smirk on her face.

"Sure you will," Ed mocked, grinning, and everything was back to normal.

* * *

The four children came out, chattering, friends again… And the girls ducked their heads and shuffled up to their parents.

The room went quiet again.

"Granny Pinako has already said she's okay with it…" Winry muttered uncertainly.

"But she's been left behind like you were, and she doesn't want that for you," Yuriy interpreted, sighing, sounding tired.

"Have you really felt so left behind?" said Sarah sadly, putting one hand on each little girl's head. They looked up at their parents with big, sad eyes.

Ed and Al and Pinako watched solemnly, unusually quiet. Den was curled up with his head down in the corner.

"Well, I think it might be safer," Sarah admitted, "if you had a safe place to go to in case this war goes south."

The girls perked up, brightening, delighted.

"And… if my daughters have ambition… how can I say no?" said Yuriy, as usual hard to read. But he put his arms out and they came in for a hug.

* * *

Winry and Rosé tentatively walked into the pub alone the next day, clutching each other's hands, Rosé looking around for Andala.

A serious grouping of their whole family, Ed and Al included, had insisted on waiting outside with a dark sort of intensity.

Rosé found Andala in her black cloak with her brilliant, glittering green eyes and bun of hair, standing in a quiet corner. She pulled Winry along, and they ran up to her.

"I'm Rosé Rockbell," said Rosé.

"And I'm Winry Rockbell," Winry added.

"And we want to apply to become twin witches!" they said together, determined.

Andala looked them over. "Yes," she said, warmly and gently, more fond. "Yes, that's just fine. Come on," she said softly, "up here to my private inn room."

And they followed her up the shadowy staircase toward the rooms above the pub.

Outside Ed made to run in there, Al made a sound of clear fear, and Pinako had to hold them back from running into the pub as the girls disappeared from their view up the stairs with the mysterious stranger.

"We can't disturb this," said Pinako, but she was watching with narrowed eyes too.

"I don't like it!" said Ed desperately, always the intensely emotional one.

"... Neither do I," said Al, a trace of the seriousness that would become his older trademark taking over his face.

* * *

Winry and Rosé stood tentatively, nervous and hands still clutched to each other tight, in front of Andala in the simple inn room.

"Sorry for all the secrecy," she said, turning to them and smiling apologetically, suddenly cheerful and at ease. "We don't show too much of ourselves around people outside the city of Orilon, typically." She let her cloak loose, to reveal an intricate warrior's outfit underneath. They stared in awe as she grinned at them in a positively big sister fashion. "This is just what I wear. We all have our own fashion styles. We're led by women, after all.

"Let's get started!" she said more eagerly. "It's really very easy, and I have a good feeling about you two. You just each take one of these." She pulled two little purple crystal amulets out of a tiny drawstring purse and handed them over. "And if something happens when you touch them…"

The girls' glittering eyes widened in awe. The amulets were glowing, had floated up and moved to hover in front of them above their open palms.

"Yes!" Andala cheered, jumping once. "Both sisters have magick! This is spectacular!"

Rosé and Winry smiled, awed.

"Now." Andala smirked, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "The magick has accepted you. Do you accept the magick? Do you accept its hold over you? You have to accept the gods of magick over your domain.

"You see," she said over the glittering amulets, "alchemists are led by a vicious being called Truth and an archway called the gate. Witches are led by the gods, a different set of invisible beings in a different realm. Usually our gods are kinder, if you accept them, but with one caveat that doesn't apply to alchemists.

"And this is that if you use too much magickal power, and use it all up inside you at once…" Andala's eyes turned solemn. "You will die," she said with deadly seriousness. "And the gods… will take you back for your bravery."

She finished, her voice soft.

"You go unconscious," she finished to their afraid faces, "and then you die. Now, in a powerful, fully trained witch, this would take a great deal. You would have to keep open an incredible magickal archway for a long period of time, or destroy a small army.

"But - there is a limit. There is always a limit. And if you surpass that limit, you pass. Girls and boys alike.

"The only other rule is that if you offer up your life as sacrifice, the gods may intervene… personally. And not to set rules, but to their own discretion. The more powerful the sacrifice… the more powerful the intervention.

"In other words," Andala finished, "in return for the enormous power I am about to hand you, do you accept these terms? Do you live under the will of the gods instead of the gate? They are usually kinder… but when prices are demanded, they are heavy."

Rosé and Winry looked at each other once - and nodded, determined.

"If we can learn to use this power to forge our own way in the world -" Winry began.

"To heal people, to follow our passions, and to help people -" Rosé continued.

They looked forward. "We accept!"

There was a pulse of white light before their eyes, the amulets slipped from their hands, and they passed out.

* * *

They woke to Andala shaking them. She looked excited as they sat up woozily.

"You saw a white burst, didn't you?" she asked excitedly. "The gods appreciate good intentions. This means you have been accepted by some of the highest echelons of the gods of all!

"And with how immediately and strongly the amulets reacted… Yes, indeed, I think you may become very powerful."

They looked up at Andala and she smiled, thrilled. "You have been accepted, fellow witches," she said, standing and holding out her hands, and she helped each girl to her feet. "And trainees," she said smoothly as they stood.

Rosé and Winry smiled at each other.

"We leave for the trek across the desert to Orilon tomorrow," said Andala seriously. "We take the train to the edge of Amestris, but after that through the desert I'm afraid we travel by foot.

"Don't worry," she said mischievously to their afraid faces. "Magick helps."

"So… we leave tomorrow?" said Rosé hesitantly.

"Five tomorrow morning," said Andala smoothly.

Rosé and Winry looked at each other, concerned.

"We have to say our goodbyes quickly," Winry realized, frowning in worry.

Andala looked down at them gently. "Yes," she said. "You do."

* * *

Winry and Rosé walked out of the pub - and Ed and Al flew at them and hugged them, tightly.

"If you didn't like that… you're really not going to like this," Winry said in dread.

The boys stood back to look at them, wide-eyed, their family also concerned.

"What is it?" Sarah asked fearfully.

"Good news?" Winry winced. "She's definitely a witch, and we've definitely been accepted into this whole Orilon program."

Everyone began to brighten -

"Bad news?" Rosé looked tentative. "... We leave the country with Andala up there at five tomorrow morning.

"And… we won't be back for six months."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Ed and Al were at the pub at four in the morning just to make sure they wouldn't miss them. It was still grey in the skies when they arrived. When the Rockbell family appeared on Friar's Road, walking toward the inn, Winry and Rosé with short hair and little dresses and carrying packs in hand, Ed and Al were already standing there, shuffling their feet, skulking rather awkwardly.

Winry and Rosé beamed and sprinted toward the boys, pouncing on them. Ed and Al yelped and fell over.

"You came!" said Rosé to Al brightly.

Al laughed a little and smiled up at her in fond exasperation. "Yup," he said, smiling. "Of course!"

"I knew you cared about me, Edward Elric!" Winry accused, pointing at Ed and grinning.

Ed blushed, his eyes widened - and he looked away and scowled, putting on his tough face. "I just came to tell you to make sure you train hard at magick, just like I'm training hard at alchemy." Winry wilted a little. Ed saw - took a deep breath, shot up and hugged her tightly. "And be careful," he said in her ear.

Winry paused - and then smiled, and hugged him back. "Of course, you big goof," she said.

The girls stood back and looked up at their grandmother and their parents.

"Now." Granny Pinako fiddled with their clothes. "Train hard. Read a lot. Eat well. Bathe and sleep well. Take care of each other. Make it back here.

"Those are your orders, troops." She straightened. "Got it?"

"Yes, Granny!" they said, straightening, wide-eyed and startled.

Their parents knelt down and hugged them. "We might not see much of each other anymore." Sarah sat back, smiling tearfully. "But I want you two to know I am so proud of you."

"So am I," said Yuriy unusually warmly. He smiled in exasperation. "In the end… I guess you're just too much like us.

"Here's a future lesson for you: if you go on lots of life-saving adventures, try to take your family with you."

They blinked at him in concern as he smiled tiredly.

"Do not worry. We will take good care of them." Everyone turned around to see Andala in her cloak and reserved, serious face, standing with a pack in the doorway of the pub. "Your children will go on to be not only great, but good."

"Good is more important to me," said Sarah, standing straight. "You tell their teachers that."

"... Well put." Andala smiled despite herself, some of her usual respectful warmth leaking through. "I will be sure to.

"Come on, girls," she said. "You will be back here in six months to this very day."

The Rockbells waved sadly, smiling with tearful pride, as the girls walked away from them. Winry and Rosé passed Ed and Al, who reached out for them reflexively, wide-eyed - but didn't quite make it.

"Train hard," Winry whispered to the boys seriously.

Rosé smiled. "Just as hard as we will be."

And taking deep, bracing breaths, they left with Andala, never looking back, walking down the road… becoming little dots to the five remaining… and out of sight.

Ed sighed. "Well, Al," he said frankly, "we'd better become damn good alchemists."

"Definitely." Al smiled firmly. "We can't fall behind, right?" He smiled playfully.

Ed smiled a little, fond of the girls - respectful. "No, we can't," he agreed.

They turned around and left with the three Rockbells, back toward their home.

"You two will have to keep me company," Pinako murmured to the boys. "You and Den. Just like their parents, those girls… Those two are shipping out next week, back to heal more people at the war front."

She nodded to the Rockbell couple, who were walking and murmuring with a determined seriousness that had not been there before.


End file.
